Birds of a Feather
by Oracle's Protege
Summary: A story set before the finale. One of the birds is attacked. How do they deal with this? (Complete)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to the WB and DC Comics.

Author's note: I wrote this story some time ago, but never posted it. It's set before Reece finds out Helena's identity.

"Oracle, you there?"

"No, just me," came the voice in Helena's ear. "It's Oracle Jr."

"Dinah? Where's Oracle?"

"She went to some teacher get-together. I think they were going out to dinner for someone's birthday. She said she'd be done by ten, but that she needed to pick up some things from the grocery store."

"I hope she picks up some more peanut butter. I can't live without that stuff. Anyways, I'm working until eleven and then I'll go on sweeps. I'll talk to you later."

********

Barbara looked at her watch as she waited for the man ahead of her to pay for his frozen dinners and six-pack of cola. It was quarter to eleven and she was tired. She hadn't been home since leaving for work at seven o'clock this morning. All she wanted to do was climb in to bed and sleep. The man ahead of her was now searching his pockets for some change so that he would not have to break his dollar bill. He pulled out handfuls of candy wrappers, and used tissue. Finally, he found two pennies at the bottom of his pockets, paid for his stuff and left. Barbara watched as the cashier scanned three jars of peanut butter, a box of tea bags, and a bag of pasta. It amazed her how quickly Helena could go through the jars of peanut butter that she bought. It was the second time this week that Barbara had to buy some. The cashier packed her groceries into one bag and handed her the bag as Barbara paid for her purchases. She placed the bag on her lap and headed out to the parking lot. To add to her already tiring day, her motorized wheelchair had a short-circuit and there had not been time to fix it this morning, so she was in the manual chair, propelling herself over the uneven pavement outside the grocery store.

She made her way left out of the store toward the parking lot. Buildings surrounded the parking lot on all sides except for the driveway to the street. None of the buildings had any windows that faced the parking lot. The lot had been full half an hour ago because of a meeting in one of the other buildings, but now it was deserted except for a few cars. She had been forced to park in the corner of the lot furthest from the grocery store. It was a little creepy in the large, empty parking lot, and the light in the corner where she had parked was of course not working.

She made her way toward the car. She was a couple of metres away from the car when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Hers was the only car in this part of the parking lot. Discretely, she reached under the armrest of the chair with her right hand and pulled out the collapsed escrima stick. She quickly brought the chair to a stop and spun around.

A large man was coming at her. She brought the escrima stick up and swung down hard and fast, expanding the collapsed baton, and connected with the outside of the man's left thigh. He cried out in pain and dropped to the ground holding his leg. Barbara activated the mike in her necklace with her left hand.

"Dinah, are you there?" Barbara spoke as she kept an eye on her attacker.

Dinah hurriedly left the television and went to the centre of the tower. She activated the mike near the main computer. 

"What's up, Oracle? Good thing it isn't a school night, because you're out past curfew, missy."

Before Barbara could answer, the man yelled, "I'll get you for that, b****!"

He started to get up, favouring his right leg. Barbara brought the escrima stick down towards his leg again, but he was ready and caught her wrist with his left hand. He was strong. She tried to break his grip, but she could not get any leverage. With his right hand, he grabbed her throat. His burly hand pushed the chocker with the mike into her neck. Barbara was finding it hard to breath. She needed to do something now before she passed out. Quickly, she brought her left hand up in a fist and connected with his jaw. It was a solid hit and his grip loosened so that she could breath with more ease. Unfortunately, he still held her by her arm and throat. He was totally enraged now.

"Why are you fighting me?" he asked in an angry voice. "It isn't like any other man is going to give it to you."

He lifted her by her arm and neck out of the chair and threw her toward the two-meter gap between her car and the wall of one of the building. The chocker caught on his fingers and was ripped from her neck. Time seemed to slow down, as she fell through the air. She saw her grocery bag fall to the ground and heard the jars of peanut butter crack as they hit the hard asphalt. Time sped back up as she came crashing to the ground. The last thing she was aware of was the thud the back of her head made as it connected with the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to the WB and DC Comics.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for their kind reviews.

Dinah paced in the middle of the clocktower. She had tried contacting Barbara several times in the last five minutes. Dinah was beginning to freak out. She had heard yelling and what sounded like fighting before Barbara's mike died. _Calm down, _she thought to herself. _Barbara's fine. She can take care of herself. For goodness sake, you learned most of your fighting techniques from her._ Still, Dinah could not shake the ominous feeling she was having. _Maybe I should talk to Helena. She'll know what to do._

********

Helena was in her apartment above the bar. She could hear the dull murmur of people talking and the beat of rock music. Looking through her closet, which was composed of mostly black articles of clothing, she thought, _What will I wear tonight? Black, black, or black?_ In the end, she pulled out a black leather coat to go with her black tank top and black leather pants.

"Huntress?"

Helena activated the mike in her chocker as she pulled on the coat. "What's up, kid?"

"I think I have a problem," Dinah said, unsure of how to tell Huntress what was going on.

"What did you touch that Oracle told you not to? And did you break it?" Helena replied with a smile. The kid was always getting into trouble.

"I didn't do anything, but I think something's wrong with Barbara," Dinah blurted out.

The smile disappeared from Helena's face. "What's wrong with her? Is she sick?"

Dinah explained to Helena how Barbara had contacted the tower and then there had been sounds of yelling and fighting before the mike died.

"I've tried to contact her, but she hasn't responded for the last ten minutes. What should we do? Do you think she's okay?"

Ignoring the knot in her stomach, Helena forced confidence into her voice, "I'm sure she's fine. But to be sure, I want you to use the computer to trace the GPS signal in Oracle's chair and I'll go check that she's okay."

"I can't do that."

"Why not? It's not difficult. Even I could do it and I'm techno-illiterate," Helena snapped, losing her patience.

"Oracle didn't take her motorized chair. Something's wrong with it. She tried to explain it to me, but the only word that I understood out of the techno-babble was 'short-circuit'. I don't think that the manual chair has a GPS signal, does it?" Dinah knew that she was ranting, but she could not stop herself. She was afraid for Barbara.

Helena rubbed her forehead and answered, "No, the manual chair can't be traced. Figure out where the car is. At least, I'll have a general idea of where she could be."

"Right, I'm checking now."

They waited in silence as the computer zeroed in on the car's GPS signal, each lost in her own thoughts. Dinah broke the silence, "According to the computer the car is in the parking lot behind Howell's Grocery Store,"

********

Barbara moaned as she regained consciousness. Her head was throbbing. It felt like someone was using a jackhammer to the back of her skull. It was difficult to think with the pain in her head. With a start she realized something was on her chest. Opening her eyes, she saw that her attacker was straddled over her hips. Her new shirt was ripped open down the front, exposing her bra and chest. _This can't be happening,_ she thought. He was fondling and licking her breast. He moved down her body and was undoing the button of her pants. _I won't let this happen_, Barbara thought desperately. She moved her head slowly, feeling a wave of nausea pass through her, as she searched for her escrima stick. It was half a metre away from her right hand. He was undoing the zipper of her pants as his lips caressed her belly button.

Slowly, she shifted some of her weight to her left hand, and as quickly as possible, she shot her right hand out in a fist and connected with his nose. His head snapped back and he brought his hands to his face as the blood oozed out between his fingers. Barbara picked up the escrima stick and swung it hard at his ribs. She heard the satisfying sound of bones cracking as he rolled off her. He stood up holding his nose with his left hand and his ribs with his right.

"You stupid cow!" he yelled. Then kicked her in the ribs and spit in her face. He left the parking lot, limping slightly. Relief flooded through Barbara's body, but her head and now her ribs were in excruciating pain. She felt so tired. She tried to fight it, but she slipped back into the blackness of unconsciousness. 

********

Helena jumped from the building's roof to the sidewalk below with a soft thud. 

"I'm across the street from Howell's Grocery Store," Helena told Dinah through the communicator.

"Is Barbara there? Do you see her or the car?" Dinah asked anxiously.

"There are a few cars in the parking lot," Helena answered as she approached the parking lot. "I think I see her car in the back."

Helena entered the parking lot and made her way to the back corner to what looked like Barbara's car. As she got closer, she could tell that the car was Barbara's. There was an overturned grocery bag and jars of peanut butter on the ground. Actually, they were crunchy peanut butter, Helena's favourite. The knot that had been growing in Helena's stomach since Dinah had contacted her grew so tight that she almost stopped in her tracks. She kept going forward towards the car as her dread grew. There was something between the car and the building. When she saw what it was, her heart stopped. Barbara was lying on her back, not moving with her eyes closed. Helena flashed back to the image of her mother lying on the sidewalk seven years ago.

"Oh God! Not again!" Helena screamed as she dropped down next to her best friend, her only family for the last seven years. "Barbara?! Barbara, can you hear me?" 

With relief, Helena saw that Barbara's chest was rising and she seemed to be breathing without any trouble. At the same time, she noticed that Barbara's shirt was ripped open and her pants were unzipped. "Come on, Barbara! Wake up!"

Dinah started to yell in her ear, demanding to know what was happening.

"I need an ambulance here, now!" Helena shouted as an answer.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to everyone who is taking the time to read and review my little story. I really appreciate your comments on the story. So enjoy the next part.

********

Helena paced back and forth in front of Jim Gordon in the hospital's waiting room. One of the cops who arrived at the scene had recognized Barbara and called the commissioner. He and Helena had been waiting for over two hours for the doctor to tell them how Barbara was. Helena was trying to contain her anger. She hated waiting. Worrying about Barbara was killing the Huntress. She desperately wanted to hit something . . . or someone, but she knew that Oracle would be pissed if she used her meta powers in public, especially in front of the commissioner. And so, Helena paced because moving helped her to contain her anger.

Commissioner Gordon on the other hand looked ill. He had not shaven or combed his hair before rushing to the hospital. Depression and guilt had set in. He was thinking back to that night seven years ago when Barbara had been shot. He had not been able to protect her then either.

"I'm looking for the family of Barbara Gordon," a middle-aged man in a white coat said from the doorway of the waiting room.

Both Helena and Commissioner Gordon quickly made their way to the doctor. He led them to a smaller room with a table and some chairs. He explained that Barbara had no major injuries. She had a slight concussion and some bruised ribs, but that he felt that she could be discharged within the hour. He was concerned about the sexual assault and gave them numbers to some counsellors. 

After the doctor left, the commissioner decided that he would go see Barbara and then the detectives assigned to the case should talk to her.

********

In the clocktower, Dinah was watching the television. In reality, the television was on, but Dinah was not paying attention. She was frantically waiting for Helena to get in touch with her. Dinah jumped when she heard the phone ring. It was Helena.

"How's Barbara?" Dinah asked.

"Barbara seems okay. She has a concussion and some bruised ribs, but we should be home soon."

Helena was about to hang up when she heard Dinah ask, "Helena, why are you using the phone?"

"Well, I am in a hospital with a psychiatric unit. I don't want anyone to think that I hear voices in my head."

********

Dinah was in the kitchen when she heard the elevator arrive, and she immediately rushed to its doors. Dinah was taken aback by how worn out Barbara looked. 

"Barbara, I'm so glad you're okay," Dinah said with relief as she bent over to embrace her mentor and now the closest thing to a mother that she had. As she pulled back, Dinah's hand made contact with Barbara's hand. In that moment, Dinah could see into Barbara's mind. She saw glimpses of what had happened and she felt Barbara's fear of what could have happened, but mostly Barbara was angry with herself for allowing it to happen and for the helplessness that she felt.

"I'm really tired. I'm going to bed," Barbara said.

Helena and Dinah watched her roll toward her bedroom. Neither of them spoke. Dinah was trying to process what she had seen in Barbara's mind. For hours, she had been worrying about how Barbara was physically. Now that Dinah had seen Barbara, Dinah's worry was replaced by anger that was growing into rage.

"Did you find him?" Dinah asked quietly, trying to control her emotions.

"No," Helena replied. "He wasn't there when I found her." Helena winced at the memory of Barbara lying in the parking lot.

Dinah could see the toll that the night's events had taken on Helena. For all her effort to be tough and stoic, Dinah could see that Helena really cared about Barbara. This only further enraged her. The three of them had been through so much and still the fates did not cut them any slack.

"We should go looking for him. There are still a couple of hours before daylight. He may still be in the area," Dinah said. She needed to do something to catch the bastard, and then maybe her new family could find some peace.

"No, I'm exhausted and so are you. Even if you won't admit it," Helena said giving Dinah a concerned look. "Barbara wouldn't talk about it and I didn't want to push her, but she talked to the police at the hospital. I'll go talk to Reece tomorrow," she said as she looked at her watch. "I mean later today to see what the police know."

********

Reece was waiting in the alley next to the precinct when Huntress landed behind him. He turned around startled, but Huntress could not take any pleasure in Reece's surprise. She was in a foul mood. She had not been able to sleep since Barbara's attack and she wanted to find this guy.

"I got the file you wanted," Reece said trying to hide the fact that Huntress had startled him. "Why do you want to know about the attack on Commissioner Gordon's daughter? There doesn't seem to be any sign of a meta-human involvement." It was still strange for him to use that term – "meta-human".

"My reason's are my own," she snapped. Huntress regretted her impatience and quick-temper when she saw the hurt look that crossed Reece's face. "I'm sorry. I'm doing this as a favour for a friend who knows the family. What does the file say?"

Opening the file, Reece began to summarize what the report said, "She was attacked in a grocery store's parking lot on Sixth Street. The detective on the case thinks that it was a crime of opportunity. The perp saw her as she was leaving the store. A defenceless woman in a wheelchair out late at night, she was practically asking for an attack." 

"No one asks to be attack and just because she uses a wheelchair doesn't make her defenceless," Huntress said irately.

Looking up from the report, he saw how his last comment had angered Huntress. Now it was his turn to apologize. "You're right. I'm sorry. That wasn't what I meant," he said sheepishly. 

After an awkward pause, he continued, "The perp started to sexually assault her when he was scared off. A friend of hers . . . um . . . here it is . . . Helena Kyle found her and called the police. Ms. Gordon received some bruised ribs and a concussion from the attack. She was interviewed in the hospital, but she doesn't seem to remember the attack very well. She couldn't give the detectives assigned to the case a description."

"Are there any other leads? Maybe someone in the grocery store saw something?"

"No, there aren't any windows looking into the parking lot and all the people in the grocery store were questioned, but they didn't see anything. I'm glad that this isn't my case. There's a lot of pressure from the higher-ups to solve this one, seeing as how it's the commissioner's daughter. Unless she remembers something, there isn't much anyone can do." 


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks again for all the great reviews. I'm glad that you are enjoying this story. I think the next chapter will be the last one for this story. 

********

Barbara sat at her worktable in the clocktower trying to repair her motorized chair. Her head was pounding and breathing caused her ribs pain. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She was so tired, but she hadn't been able to sleep after getting home from the hospital. Whenever she closed her eyes, she could see his face and hear his voice. He was another monster that would haunt her dreams.

She opened her eyes and replaced her glasses. She had been working on this piece of circuitry for almost two hours. It was difficult to focus with the pounding in her head and his voice and image playing in her head like a movie, not to mention the constant interruptions from her family.

As if on cue, the telephone next to her began to ring. Barbara was tempted to let the phone keep ringing, but she knew that if she did not answer, he would be at her door. She did not need that right now, so she answered the phone.

"Hello, Dad," Barbara said.

"Hi, Barbie," came her father's voice at the other end of the line. She could hear the worry in his voice. "How are you? Do you need anything?"

"No, Dad. I'm fine. Just like I was fine when you called an hour ago, and the hour before that."

"Okay, okay. I get it. Please call me if you need anything, or if you want to talk. I can be there in less than twenty minutes. I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye." 

A sense of relief washed through her as she hung up the phone. She loved her father, but she could not handle his guilt. She heard it in his voice on the phone. Last night at the hospital, she had seen it in his eyes. When he had walked into the hospital room, guilt and pain had filled his eyes as he had seen his little girl hurt. He had not said anything about it, but she knew that he was thinking about that night seven years ago. He blamed himself for that night despite Barbara's protests and now he blamed himself again. 

Barbara's thoughts were interrupted by another member of her "family" as Dinah came into the room. The girl had been to see Barbara almost every half hour trying to subtly check on her. Dinah definitely needed to work on being subtle. 

"I'm going to make a sandwich. Do you want one, Barbara?"

It was time to end this. "You don't need to keep checking on me. I'm fine, Dinah," Barbara said as gently and with as much sincerity as she could muster.

"Are you sure? Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No, there's nothing to talk about," Barbara said dropping her eyes to the circuitry to avoid Dinah's gaze. "I don't really remember what happened anyway."

Dinah knew that Barbara was lying. She had seen into Barbara's mind, but Dinah did not want to push Barbara to talk about it. "So, about that sandwich then. Do you want one?"

********

Helena had returned to the clocktower to find Dinah in the kitchen and Barbara working with circuitry. Seeing Barbara brought back all the images of last night. Helena had hoped that talking to Reece would give her a direction to find this scumbag, but she was more frustrated than ever.

Helena changed into workout clothes and went into the training room. She ran on the treadmill for twenty minutes, but her frustration did not lessen. Getting off the treadmill, she headed toward the punching bag suspended from the ceiling. _If I can't actually hit that creep, at least I can pretend_, she thought.

She started off with a few jabs and some different hand techniques and combinations, finally adding some kicks to the mix. She hit the bag harder and harder remembering how Barbara had looked lying in the parking lot the night before. She was hitting the bag so hard, it seemed that the chain suspending the bag might break. Helena kept hitting until her mind was completely blank and the sweat was pouring down her face.

"It wasn't your fault."

Helena stopped and turned to find Dinah in the training room looking at her with worry.

"It wasn't your fault," she repeated. "No one blames you. You shouldn't blame yourself."

Helena stared at the teen. _If anyone else presumed to know how I felt, I would have lost it on them,_ Helena thought to herself, but she did not feel angry. With a start, she realized that her "family" had grown to include Dinah.

"I know it wasn't my fault, but I can't help feeling like I should have been there sooner, or I should have done something differently to stop it from happening. The worst part of it is that I'm still not doing anything. The police don't have any leads to finding him because Barbara doesn't remember enough about the attack. Part of me is glad that she doesn't remember, but another part is so frustrated because I need to find this guy so that he can pay."

She did not want to betray Barbara but this guy needed to be caught and Barbara seemed to be pretending that nothing had happened. "Last night when I hugged her, I saw into her mind," Dinah said quietly. 

"What did you see, Dinah?" Helena demanded anxiously, seeing the girl hesitate.

"I was only in her mind for a few seconds, but what I saw . . . it was awful. Barbara's so strong and confidant and caring and he . . . he said horrible things to her. She was so afraid of what was going to happened." Dinah was trying to hold back her tears and her anger. "She felt so helpless and ashamed." Tears were running down her cheeks now as she relived what she had seen.

Turning back to the bag so that Dinah would not see the tears starting to well up behind her eyes, Helena asked, "Did you see his face?"

Taking a moment to wipe her eyes and to calm down, Dinah answered, "It was so quick. I know Barbara remembers his face, but from the flashes that I saw, I can only remember that he had a large scar diagonally across his forehead above his right eyebrow."

"That isn't much of a lead to investigate."

"I don't understand why she won't talk to anyone about it," Dinah said. "Doesn't she want him to be caught?"

********

Barbara sat in front of one of the computers in the middle of the clocktower. Barbara knew that Helena and Dinah wanted her to talk about what had happened, but she knew how they would react. They cared about her and if she gave them his description, they would hunt him down. Barbara did not trust them to control their emotions and to turn him safely over to the police. At least, this was the only reason for her silence that she would acknowledge. 

In reality, she knew that it had less to do with Helena and Dinah's lack of emotional control, and more to do with Barbara's own feelings of helplessness. She needed to take care of this alone. She had worked too hard to regain her independence only to become a victim again. She hated feeling like a victim. She hated feeling helpless and useless, but worse than that, she hated the pity and guilt that she saw in the eyes of her family. Everyone felt guilty – Helena, Dinah, her father. It was as if Barbara was a child that they needed to protect and they had failed. If Barbara caught this guy, she could prove to them that she was fine, that she could take of herself, and then everything could go back to normal. She needed to do it her way. _That's where Oracle comes in_, she thought to herself.

Barbara had been waiting all day to be alone and now Dinah and Helena were upstairs working out. Barbara only had a few leads to her attacker's identity, but that was all Oracle needed. Using the face-sketching program on the computer, Barbara made a sketch of her attacker's face. It took her about thirty minutes to get the sketch just right, but it would take too long to search the DMV's database with only a picture.

All day, she had been trying to remember the logo that had been on his shirt, and suddenly it came to her.

"Puppies!" she shouted to herself.

He had been wearing an employee shirt from a pet store chain. Using the computer, she hacked into their mainframe. She discovered that they had several stores in the city with almost three hundred employees. She downloaded the entire employee list. She programmed the computer to find the DMV's photo of each person on the list and compare it to the sketch of her attacker. In a few hours, the computer would hopefully have a match.

Checking her watch, she realized that she needed to go to the police station to meet with Detective Johnson, the detective assigned to her case. Now that Oracle was working on the case, Barbara could cooperate with the police and agree to talk to a sketch artist. When she returned, the computer would have a match and she could anonymously e-mail Detective Johnson her attacker's address.

Feeling like she had accomplished something, Barbara grabbed her car keys and left a note for Dinah and Helena.

********

Dinah and Helena came downstairs after an hour of sparing and quick showers. They both felt better after their talk and they had burned off most of the frustration that had remained while sparing. They found Barbara's note in the kitchen where they proceeded to raid the fridge.

"How can you live here with all this health food?" Helena asked as she found some asparagus.

"Well, I have a stash of junk food in my room," Dinah answered. "You won't tell Barbara, will you?"

"I'll keep your secret, if you share some of it with me. I really need something sweet."

They both laughed as Dinah went to get some of her junk food. As Dinah passed the computers, she heard the computer announce that it had found a match. Curiously, Dinah went over to the screen to see what it had found. What she saw dispelled her newly found good mood.

"Helena!" she shouted.

Helena ran in to find Dinah staring at one of the computers.

"It's him." That was all Helena needed to hear as she memorized the home address and tore out of the clocktower with Dinah right behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

So here's the final chapter. I hope you enjoyed this story.

********

When Barbara returned to the clocktower, she found that the computer had found a match. She quickly sent an untraceable e-mail to Detective Johnson with her attacker's photo, and his home and work addresses. She was comforted by the fact that the police would soon have him in custody until she realized how quiet it was in the tower. _Where are Helena and Dinah?_

********

Helena threw the man into the outside wall of his apartment building. She held him against the wall with one hand to his throat, his feet barely touching the ground. Even though the sun had set and it was quite dark, she could tell that it was him. 

"What's your problem, b****?" he said squirming to get out of her grip. _What's wrong with me she's just a girl, _he thought, but Helena's grip on his throat was unbreakable.

"Watch what you say, big man, you don't want me to make your face any uglier."

Looking at his face, Helena noticed that his nose was broken and his jaw was bruised.

"Did she do that to you?! Huh? She wasn't the easy prey that you thought. You saw the chair and thought 'I'll just take what I want'!" Helena shouted at him. "Well, you need to learn some manners," she said as she let him go.

"You just made a huge mistake, little girl. Now, I'll teach you a lesson."

As Huntress had expected, he tried to attack her and that was exactly what she wanted. He tried to punch her in the face, but she ducked under his arm and hit him under the ribs and he yelled out in pain. Standing back up, she punched his already broken nose. He lunged for her neck, but she crescent kicked his arms out of the way and put him in a headlock. She held him tightly, partially cutting off his airway.

"The woman you attacked last night was a friend of mine. You need to treat women with more respect, do you hear me?" she asked cutting off his airway a little more. "You're filth and I should just get rid of you now."

Helena was seriously considering snapping his neck until she heard Oracle come over the transceiver.

"Helena! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Barbara, not Oracle, yelled.

"I found the a**hole who attacked you. I'm going to teach him not to mess with us. What he did…was going to do is inexcusable. He needs to pay."

Helena's prisoner was truly terrified now. Not only was he being attacked by a woman, but she was now talking to herself as if she heard voices in her head.

"The police are on their way, you better get out of there," Barbara said in an eerily calm voice. Before cutting off communication, Barbara quietly added, "You never considered that this was something I wanted…I needed to do on my own."

Dinah came around the corner out of breath from trying to keep up with Helena, but with fire in her eyes. She had forgotten her transceiver in the tower and had missed the exchange between Barbara and Helena.

"That's him!" she said with rage as two nearby trashcans began to hover.

"We're going!" Helena barked as she dropped him to the ground, hearing the approaching sirens.

********

In the clocktower, all was not well.

"Barbara, we wanted to get him for you…for what he had done to you," Dinah tried to explain.

"I don't need you to care for me like a child," Barbara shouted. "I'm an adult and I can take care of myself, despite being in this chair!"

"You know that chair doesn't matter," Helena shouted back.

"Well, it matters to me!" Barbara snapped.

Silence filled the tower. Things had reached a boil.

"I'm sorry, Barbara," Helena started softly. "I…when I found you last night…I thought I had lost you. You've been my only family for the last seven years and I don't know what I'd do without you."

Helena pretended to look out the window behind her, so that they would not see the tear running down her cheek.

"Listen, both of you," Barbara said to Dinah and Helena. "I didn't talk to you about last night because I wanted to protect you…or at least that's what I told myself. In reality, I didn't want to deal with what had happened. I could see the pity and the guilt in your eyes. I told myself seven years ago that I would never be a victim again, but I let it happen again."

"Barbara, it wasn't your fault. I know that I haven't been here a very long time, but the strength and courage that it must have taken you to rebuild your life fill me with awe, not pity," Dinah said. 

A silent tension filled the tower again.

"Especially, since you somehow managed to control Helena."

The dark mood in the tower lifted as Helena threw a pillow at Dinah's head.

********

The Birds took the rest of the night off. They were on the couch in Barbara and Dinah's apartment watching an old movie on the television, enjoying the comfort of their mix-matched family. There was a knock at the door, and Helena opened it to let Jim Gordon in. The commissioner was clearly excited. 

"They caught him, Barbara!"

He was so excited with his news that he missed the surreptitious smile that the three women shared with each other.

"First there was an anonymous e-mail to Detective Johnson and then when the uniforms went to arrest him, he practically asked to be arrested. He's made a full confession. You don't need to worry about him anymore," he said as he made his way over to his daughter hugging her and kissing her forehead.

"Actually, he isn't the first perp to turn himself in and confess recently. There's a rumour about this woman…" he stopped. Thinking better of it, he said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

********

Jim Gordon spent the next hour with the girls. He had no clue that he was one floor below the secret lair of the mysterious vigilantes who were rumoured to protect the city and he would never imagine that the three women in front of him were in fact those protectors. 


End file.
